All The Years I Have Loved You
by Em Dixon
Summary: Zuko and Katara have loved each other in so many different ways through the years. Zutara week 2011.
1. Mask, pt 1

**Things We Do in the Dark…  
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Sometime around midnight the nature of the festival changed. Lanterns were dimly lit, hanging on the fronts of shops and houses in Ba Sing Se's upper ring, hanging on poles when houses were set too far back. Chimes were attached at intervals so that each time the wind blew, the chimes jangled. The lanterns and the bonfires cast everything in a soft yellow light and the buildings looked like they were covered in gold. Gold buildings, gold streets, gold people. But when the light lowered, the mood did, too.

Maybe it was the alcohol, Zuko thought, but everyone moved in slow motion. The night was cool, and people clustered around the fires, dancing to the steady beat of the drums and the thrum of the sitar, and the call of the flute, and that enchanting voice of the singer as she swayed, casting a spell on them all. She snaked her arms up her body, her gold bracelets catching the oranges and reds of the bonfire, and she turned her eyes skyward, sleepily.

Zuko was feeling _good_. Uncle had been right; attending the festival, having a bit of fun to relieve a lot of his tension was a good idea. Where he and Jun had snuck off to, though, Zuko didn't care. They could be lost among the throngs of people swaying and pulsing with the beat. Everyone was so close together, and their features were hazy and distorted by the bright light as it shot embers into the sky. Zuko was even walking in time to the music, his steps slow and languid, oozing like viscous liquid across the stone streets while the drummer improvised and the singer let out a slow, passionate, throaty call. People bumped into him, brushed against him, slowly mostly, sometimes quickly, sometimes touches lingering. This was the only thing that bothered him. It was a fertility festival, Uncle said, an old one brought back to sooth the spirits of the citizens of the city, to remind them of the way they gave thanks for the new planting season, the fertility of the dirt that sustained them and the spring rains. And, of course, human fertility.

A smaller bonfire was burning a few blocks behind the main one, and there were fewer people, and these people danced more freely. There was a girl with brown hair and tan skin and blue eyes, and she beckoned to him as she swayed her hips in time to the singer's luxurious chants. She swayed left to right, her body forming sleek, extreme, curvy angles. She ran her fingers across her bare stomach, brought her hands through her hair, letting it fall behind her as she dipped her head back, exposing her neck to him. She was barefoot, bracelets around her ankles and her biceps, her skirt long with a split down the side, her legs slipping between the fabric.

Her body called to him, and he circled her, loosely at first, but tightening, predatory, and she never stopped dancing. Her eyes tracked his movement, a challenge, daring him to get closer. Risk being burned. The music was slowing, and they slowed their movements even more, still elegant, still circling, until her hand brushed his thigh, his hand slipped inside the split in her dress, caressing her. He could smell the moon peach blossoms in her hair, feel that delicious, enticing heat coming off her body.

"Didn't expect to see you here," Zuko said, his voice husky, in her ear.

She swayed, stepping closer to him, one of her legs between both of his, nearly as close as they could physically be. But they've been closer.

"Didn't expect to see _you_ here," Katara replied, her fingers drawing light trails of fire against his chest. Igniting him. "Shouldn't you be at the palace?"

"Mandatory two week vacation."

"Setting stuff on fire?"

"Like you are right now."

They were breathing heavy, letting the music work them into a frenzy. He swallowed hard, swallowed the taste of her that always lingered in his memory, couldn't resist trailing his hand up her side, feeling her shiver, making him shiver, making him need. They stopped moving side by side, faced each other, their lips drawn magnetically, opposites pulling together, wishing they were the same now, the easier to push away. Gently, they brushed, their lips, and sparks flew between them, and they'd crossed the line, and he grabbed her hand, nearly ran for Uncle's house.

"Stop me," he begged, with his back against the front door, Katara clutched tightly in his arms, breathing in the scent of everything she was. "We shouldn't be doing this."

She brought her lips to his, kissed him, her tongue probing deeper, begging for entrance. She moaned against him, and he was powerless to stop himself because this was relaxing and vacation and feeling good, and no one would have to know. Not the current Lady Consort or Katara's boyfriend from the North. Certainly not him.

"Give me just this one night to feel loved," she begged, and her eyes were so sincere, so pleading, so blue, and he opened the door, and he gave in.

They stumbled around the house in the dark, not wanting to light any lamps and bring their treason into high relief. This was their secret, their need. In his bedroom, she stood before him, lit by the moon, the full moon, and he smirked. She would be up for a battle. He started by dipping a finger below the waistband of her skirt as he circled her, and she reached for his shirt, and they were circling each other, grabbing at clothes and tugging. She smiled devilishly, as she snatched the sash from his pants and held it over her head like a banner, and with her hands up, she was defenseless. He stepped in, loosened her skirt, and it dropped to the floor, and he kissed her deeply, reminding her that he was the one that loved her, and that always would.

She tugged his shirt off, and he used his teeth to undo the ties on hers, and she drug her fingers down his back when he sucked on her neck. Her shirt disappeared, his pants disappeared, and they were before each other, naked and vulnerable and revealed. Whatever else they may say to justify this moment, they would each say they needed the other, and Zuko laced his fingers with Katara's, and guided her gently to the bed.

"Just so we both know," Katara said as she pulled him on top of her, "this is wrong. We're wrong. We won't lie about that, right?"

She gasped as he pulled her nipple into his mouth. He wouldn't answer. He would lie to himself. He would say that it was right. It was meant for them to be. Her body was responding to his, her hips rolling, searching for his, and he obliged, sliding into her as she arched into him, and he whimpered, clutching her close to him. He set the pace, sliding gently in and out, and she kissed his scar, whispering to him that she loved him, that she needed him, because he loved her and he needed her.

They moved faster, savored the moment.

"Bit me," he demanded, and she did, first grazing her teeth along the length of his neck, and he growled, pushing into her further, and she gasped before biting on his shoulder, twisting his skin between her teeth. He moaned into her neck.

Katara bit harder, then pushed against his shoulder, urging him onto his back. He obliged, and she sat on top of him, swirling her hips in a way that made his eyes roll back. She ran her hands along his chest, dragging her nails down, then ghosting them back up, and he grabbed her hips, urged her into a faster rhythm, feeling near his release. She grabbed his hands and guided them to her breasts, to knead and play and tease, and he obliged, pinching her nipples, then sitting up to take one in his mouth. She wound her fingers in his hair, preventing him from leaving.

"I love you. Spirits, I love you," she whispered as if it were a dirty secret between them.


	2. Mask, pt 2

**…And the Consequences We Face Because of Them  
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Katara worried the fabric of her traveling clothes while she waited for Zuko to finish his meeting. She took a shaky breath, and held her elbows, trying not to make eye contact with the concerned staff. She rarely showed up in such a state, but she hadn't quite expected to be in the Fire Nation. She'd just finished up a visit in the North asking Chief Arnook to help the South with the recovery effort, and had planned to return home to her family, but she'd been feeling ill lately, and decided to stop in the Fire Nation.

Ill wasn't quite the word. She felt _pregnant_.

She took another shuddering breath, and cursed her luck as she saw Lady Lis coming down the hall. The official Royal Consort. The Fire Lord's girlfriend. The woman Zuko cheated on. With her. Katara. And now she might be pregnant.

Under different circumstances, Katara and Lis might have been friends, but Lis saw her as a threat. Every time Katara and Zuko appeared in public together, rumors kicked up about them dating, though there was very little evidence. They'd always been careful with public affection, and kept it at a very friendly level, and until that stupid festival, they'd _never_ been together while they were otherwise attached.

"Lady Katara," Lis said coldly as she came to stand opposite her. "I didn't think you were supposed to be in the Fire Nation just yet."

"It's a free country." Katara tried to find the sass, but she was too scared for that. She just wished Zuko would hurry.

"It is. But I imagined you were needed elsewhere." Lis put her hands on her hips and eyed Katara.

Katara tried not to feel guilty. It wasn't like Zuko and Lis even liked each other. It was an arranged relationship, Lis another candidate suggested by his council as a possible match. This was the trial period, to see if they could exist without stabbing each other's eyes out. They had, and the council was hopeful. Guilt knotted her stomach. Lis was tall and pale and elegant with long black hair and green eyes; she was the epitome of Earth Kingdom nobility, and probably had no idea how to deal with the scandal it would cause if Katara was pregnant with the Fire Lord's baby. But then, she _was_ Earth Kingdom nobility, and Katara read the Ba Sing Se society papers. She knew the kinds of scandals that went on there. But that was just justification. She felt horrible.

The door to the meeting room opened, and the council members began spilling out. Katara's heartbeat sped up, and she took shaky breaths and forgot all about Lis, who was tossing her long hair over her shoulders like some animal challenging a rival for the same mate. Which, she was. Whatever. Katara had hair, too. And curves. And Zuko _liked_ curves. Her stomach clenched again. She'd have an extra curve in a few months, and the thought brought shameful tears to her eyes.

Zuko finally emerged, regal in his crown and mantle, standing out in his close fitting shirt and pants while all the council members stuck to the old fashioned cumbersome robes. He was talking to his Chief of Staff, Minister Hau, and Katara wanted to cry from relief and fear.

"Zuko?" Her voice sounded rough and strangled to her own ears, and she clamped her mouth closed because she would not cry in front of everyone, and hated herself for showing so much weakness to Lis and the other council members.

"Katara? What're you… What's wrong?"

He rushed over and hugged her, dumping an armload of papers in Hau's hands. Against him, in his arms, she felt protected and safe, like maybe he would have some genius solution to this whole problem. She sniffled, and instinctively, he wiped away tears that were threatening to fall.

"Your office is empty, my lord," Hau said.

Zuko didn't even look in Lis' direction, just putting his arm around Katara's shoulder and leading her to his office. Inside, he closed the door, and motioned her to a chair, but she shook her head.

"Do you want some tea?" he asked, taking off the crown and the mantle. He sat down in the chair behind his desk.

"Um…" Katara focused on breathing, which took up most of her concentration.

Zuko was looking at her as if he could find that dirty secret written on her face. She hoped it wasn't. Katara's face scrunched up, and she couldn't stop the tears. What if it was on her face, and she'd walked through the capitol, and now everyone knew? She was a homewrecker, and a mistress, and they'd call her all sorts of names. Whore. Slut. Gold digger. Thief.

She hadn't realized she'd started bawling until she smelled Zuko, all cinnamon and nutmeg, and felt him, warm and protective around her. He was stroking her hair and rubbing circles on her back, and she clung to his shirt like she might fall if she let go. Inside his protective circle, Katara thought that he could make things alright, but it took five tries for her to even form the idea into words.

"I think I might be pregnant," she said into his chest when her sobs had quieted.

"What?" But he didn't stop his comforting, even though she could feel him stiffen in her arms.

"That festival… I mean, I thought I was keeping up with the herbs, but maybe I missed a few days." It was very important for her to justify this. "I'm careful about these things. I… I know it would be bad for you."

She was playing with a fold on his shirt, and he sighed, releasing her. Without him, everything felt so cold and vacant, and she wrapped her arms around herself again, trying to ward off the words that had to be coming. He sunk down into his chair and ran his hands over his face, then through his hair. It was agony waiting to hear what he would say. It _would_ be bad. It would be scandal and shame and disrespect to the Earth Kingdom. They would demand some sort of punishment for the Fire Lord breaking a vow. Their indiscretion could launch a war because Zuko would stand up for her, and their illicit love and their illicit love child bastard heir would be on display for all the world to see and laugh and mock. Katara covered her mouth as a wave of nausea made her stomach roll.

"Being a father scares me," he said, pulling her between his legs. He kissed her stomach, the gentlest of touches that sent her bawling all over again. "You'd be a good mother."

She couldn't see his face because of the tears, but she ran her hands through his hair, holding him against her stomach, and she could feel him smiling, and it made her laugh and cry. This was Zuko. He would find a way to make it better. He would divert all the attention to him, keep her and their illicit love child bastard heir—her baby, Zuko's baby, their baby—he would keep them safe. Zuko would fight a war for her, and it scared her and made her feel more loved than she'd ever felt before. A little of the nervousness and fear left her, and she didn't quite feel that dark presence hovering at her back.

"Do you know for sure?"

"No," she said, feeling stronger, and her tears drying, and took his face in her hands. She ran her thumb over his scar. "I was too afraid to check by myself."

He kissed her stomach again. "You know, if you were pregnant, we'd have to get married. You would be carrying the heir to the Fire Nation."

"You've been spending too much time with Sokka," she said, and he kissed the palm of her hand.

Zuko was the pessimist. It was an established fact. He was supposed to be talking about how the council would crucify him, how no one would accept them being together, how the Fire Nation would descend into destruction and cannibalism. But he was being optimistic and hopeful, loving and levelheaded. Sokka was trying to teach him to be less of a pessimist, and perhaps it was actually starting to stick. He'd only been trying to two years. He stood, taking her hands and leading her to the other side of the desk.

"Ok," he said with a deep breath, a determined look, and a nod of his head. "I'm here. We'll check together."

He kissed her forehead, and Katara pulled a tendril of water from a plant in the corner of his office. She leaned her back against his chest and he helped her roll up her shirt and pull her pants down a little, so she could flatten the water on her stomach. She willed it to seep inside, and it did, glowing gently. Zuko put one hand on top of hers, and the other rested on her hip, and she closed her eyes, and they breathed together, and she could feel his heartbeat, a little irregular because of Azula's lightning, but so distinctly him.

She probed, pushed deeper, pulled shallow, for an entire minute but found nothing. He'd said they could get married if she was pregnant, and he seemed so hopeful. Her heart clenched, and mixed feelings washed over her. Happy that she wasn't some hussy homewrecking whore, but disappointed that there was no part of Zuko nesting inside of her. He kissed her neck.

"Anything?"

Katara sent the water back to the plant and sunk back against him.

"No."

"Oh. Well. That's good, right?" He squeezed her, but he did sound a little disappointed.

"You're supposed to be glad. I don't want to be a homewrecker."

He turned her around in his arms and took her face in his hands.

"You are my home. Everyone else is wrecking it for us."

Damn him.

"Maybe…maybe we should, you know, not be…" She gestured between them.

"Oh. Right."

He dropped his hands, fidgeted, then gestured to the door. He opened it for Katara, and Lis was waiting outside, across the hall. She narrowed her eyes at Katara, so Katara turned and threw her arms around Zuko. He laughed and hugged her back.

"Thank you," she said, meaning it. "For everything."

"Of course. I'd be a terrible person if I wasn't there for you."

He almost reached for her hand, but laughed, a low chuckle, instead. Lis watched them from across the hall, and Katara threw her arms around him one more time before leaving.

"Maybe later?" she asked, more than a little hopeful that it could be true.

* * *

><p>AN: This was originally going to be its own two shot, but I thought it fit well with the theme, mask. I went with a less literal translation, and I hope it worked for you guys and wasn't too obscure. I was thinking mask as in hiding, looking over something, covering up. If you've read _Pai Sho and Tea_, this is the fertility festival referred to, and if you've read _The Consequences that Follow_, this is the pregnancy scare referred to.


	3. History

**All Your Fault  
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"Look," Toph said, pointing. "Here she comes."

Zuko smiled to himself. Katara was smiling, and it made his heart beat faster. She was holding up the end of her dress. If it could be called a dress. Dresses don't normally come in two pieces. It was more like a shirt and a skirt. But shirt would also be loosely used. It wasn't covering much of her. Her stomach and her arms were bare. So was some of her back. Some members of his council had banded together and told her it was improper for a Fire Lady to be dressed in so little clothing. She should cover up more, they said. In her defense, it _was_ a really hot summer, and she did look damn good. He didn't think the council would be challenging her fashion sense anymore.

"Really, Sparky?" Toph said, folding her arms and shaking her head. "You are so going to chicken out of this. I can already feel you getting all mushy."

"I am not. I'm not scared of her."

"Nor should you be," Katara said, sitting in the grass next to Zuko.

She kissed Zuko's cheek, and he admitted that while he wasn't scared of her, he didn't want to lose cuddle privileges. Katara hated having to apologize, especially for things she wouldn't consider her fault. And she definitely wouldn't consider this her fault. Toph raised her eyebrows at him and nodded in Katara's direction. She could at least have the grace not to be all smug about his impending loneliness. But then grace and Toph weren't said in the same sentence when she was on 'vacation,' and her 'vacation' lasted the majority of the year.

Katara was looking between them, a little confused.

"Is there something you're supposed to tell me?"

Right. He crossed his arms, put on his own smug look. "Actually, Toph and I were talking, and we decided you owe me an apology. And everyone else, too, really."

"What?" This was just confusion. She ran her fingers through her hair as she thought. "I don't think I've hurt anyone recently. Well, not where it would deserve an apology." She ran her hand up Zuko's arm.

"You do know I can tell what you're doing?" Toph said, making the ground vibrate beneath them. The turtleducks quacked angrily as water sloshed out of their pond. "Don't take advantage of me because I can't see." She punched the ground for good measure, and Katara fell over.

"Are you done, Toph?" Zuko asked, setting an errant turtleduck back in the water.

"Yes."

"Good. Anyway, Katara, Toph and I were talking about Ba Sing Se—"

"I don't know what you heard, but I didn't do anything in Ba Sing Se." She was pulling her hair like she did when she got nervous, and looking around to see if anyone else was listening.

"…Yeah, I'm talking about five years ago when you snitched on me to Azula."

Zuko could have asked her what she did that no one was supposed to know about, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to know. Some things were better left as mysteries. Besides, it was better to get the hard part over. Already her face was changing. She was going back to that day they'd been locked in prison together. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. This was Katara-fury coming on.

"You… Let me get this straight," she said, pointing a finger in his direction. "_You_ are blaming _me_ for what happened that day? You?"

"All I'm saying is that I was finally beginning to not mind working in a tea shop—"

"Is this some kind of joke?"

Katara fury was definitely coming on. Zuko wondered if she even realized she had her hands—no, fists—on her hips. Her head was cocked to the side, her eyebrows raised, and her mouth was a thin line of tension. She would start huffing soon and making that little indignant noise that precedes one of her speeches.

"No, Sweetness, this is the smackdown!" Toph said from her spot under a tree, laughing and enjoying this way too much.

She didn't have a glare that would make Toph wither like Zuko did, but Katara gave it a good try. Her eyes were narrowed so much they were practically closed, and she was literally snarling.

"I'm not apologizing for that! I didn't know it was Azula."

"Yeah, but you still would have brought hell on us—"

"You deserved it!" Katara jabbed him in the chest. "I can't believe you're even…"

She stopped using words then and just gurgle screamed, throwing her hands in the air. The huffing started and she pointed angrily at Zuko a few times before rounding on Toph, but always coming back to Zuko. He was definitely losing cuddle privileges. She jabbed him again for good measure.

"I don't think I deserved that," Zuko said, rubbing his shoulder. "Did you even _realize_ I'd stopped chasing you?"

That was the thing he never quite understood. Before the siege in the North, he'd caught up with them almost weekly. It was like they had regularly scheduled play dates, only they'd play with fire and water and air. And occasionally a boomerang, depending on Sokka's state of mind. After they'd parted ways, and he and Uncle had floated off on that raft, they hadn't run into each other in _months_. At that point, Zuko had his own problems to worry about.

"You never stopped chasing us," Katara sputtered weakly.

She was still clutching her anger like a whip, though. Zuko smiled, but he probably shouldn't have. He was only imagining Katara with a whip, but she probably thought he was laughing at her, which would give her another reason to be angry.

"I did." Ok, now Zuko was being smug because she hadn't even realized he'd been gone for so long. "Look, I know you couldn't stand the sight of me back then, but really, I thought you'd be more observant than that."

"Are you calling me lazy?" Any huffing that was interrupted by Zuko pointing out that he hadn't been chasing them was resumed. She was readying her poking finger again, but Zuko was quick. He dodged, which made her angrier.

"No—"

"Yes—"

Zuko looked at Toph. She'd said yes at exactly the same time he said no. "Just whose side are you on, here?"

"I'm on the side of a good fight." Toph picked her ear and leaned back against the tree. She waved her hand in some vague 'please continue' motion, which Katara took to heart.

"Do you know what I had to go through? Do you know what _you_ put me through?"

"Look, I'm not talking about the entire time—"

Katara stood up and started to walk away, but she came back. And there was that little indignant noise. "Look, Zuko, I thought this was all dead and behind us, but clearly you intend to bring up old dead moldy carcasses. I don't know where you get off thinking I owe you an apology for your poor behavior, mister, but it's not happening. Maybe I should have you committed to the hospital where Azula stayed, because _she_ learned to accept responsibility for her actions."

She was leaning over to practically yell in his face, and Toph was wisely holding in her laughter. Katara was jabbing him in the shoulder again, so Zuko grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together. She just leaned closer to him, but he wasn't looking at her face anymore.

"Are you looking down my shirt?" She asked, bolting upright as much as she could and pressing her shirt against her. "How dare you!"

"There's nothing you've got that I haven't seen before!" Zuko said, gesturing at her, not sure why she should be so prudish now. "And we're married! I look at you naked all the time!"

"That's different, you perv. We're having an argument right now. And let go of my hand."

"No."

The gurgle scream again, and she yanked her arm, but he wasn't letting go. He smiled politely at her.

"I will if you apologize for being a tattle."

_That_ was the wrong thing to say because she gave him a look that could spoil milk before it left the hippo cow, and even Toph felt that. She squeezed his hand with more strength than he thought she had, and he didn't even hesitate to let go. She was looming over him and not in a seductive way. Zuko groaned. He probably just lost a lot more than cuddle privileges.

"You damn well better… I am not a _tattle_. Take it back."

If Zuko hadn't been very aware of the rather large pond a few feet behind them, he would have challenged her about what she decided to be upset over: not that he was asking her to apologize, but because he called her a tattle. She was moving her arms into a bending posture and the water started splashing behind them.

"Apologize!" Toph screamed, getting to her feet. "It's not worth it, take it back!"

If Zuko was any less stubborn, he might have, only now it was a matter of principle. She _was_ a tattle.

"You know what? I'm not taking that back," he said, standing. "You _are_ a tattle."

The pond behind him went still. This was the calm before the storm.

"When have I ever—"

"To keep this short, I'm going to stick to events in the past week. You tattled on me because I snuck out to get a moment's peace, you told me that Toph was down at the docks again, even though she wasn't supposed to go, you told Uncle that Aang was hiding in the kitchens, then you told me that Aang was hiding in the kitchen. You told my mother that I had dessert at breakfast, then you told her I was burning official documents—which I wasn't. Then you told me that Uncle—"

A wave of water came flying toward him, and Zuko had to cover himself in a ball of fire to keep from getting drenched. He stayed crouched in his little fiery ball wondering why he felt it was some kind of moral obligation to challenge Katara on these things. Oh yeah, the rest of their friends were cowards and no one else would do it.

Zuko took a chance and came out of his fireball.

"Is it safe, yet?"

It took a moment to see Toph peeking out from her underground shelter. He looked to Katara. She'd moved on to Stage Two: Guilt. When Stage One: Anger didn't have the desired effect, she started guilting people into doing stuff. Stage Two is usually where Zuko failed.

"Yeah, it's safe," he grumbled.

Katara was bunching the fabric of her skirt and looking her most apologetic.

"I shouldn't have thrown the pond at you. We're adults. We can discuss things without being petty."

Zuko wasn't about to point out that she'd been the one who started flinging elements and being petty. Ok, so maybe bringing this whole thing up was petty in the first place, but that was Toph's fault. He held his arms open to Katara, and she stepped to him. She gave him a peck on the cheek—not the lips, he noticed—before resting her head on his shoulder. He rubbed her back. Her move to Stage Two, he saw, might also have something to do with the palace staff looking quite concerned.

"You seriously didn't notice that I'd stopped chasing you guys?"

"I guess I didn't give it much thought. I mean, I so thoroughly whipped you at the North Pole—"

"Oh, no." Zuko held her at arm's length. "You did not 'so thoroughly whip me,' nor have you _ever_."

She was poking out her bottom lip and tracing circles on his chest. She leaned her head to one side, and Zuko pulled at a strand of hair that stuck to her lips. Soft lips.

"No!" Toph shouted, stomping on the ground. "Don't give in, she learned that one from Jun! You're not even fighting fair, Katara!"

Zuko chuckled. There was something inherently wrong about Katara learning manipulative tactics from Jun, but that was an issue to be covered another day.

"What would you have done if I hadn't, as you claim, tattled?" Katara asked.

Zuko shrugged. "We would have stayed in Ba Sing Se. I would have worked at the Jasmine Dragon with Uncle. You and Aang would have defeated Azula. There never would have been a coup. I would have given up on returning to the Fire Nation and started a new life." That's as far as he'd gotten. Or at least as far as he'd gotten and would admit to her. He wouldn't tell her about the part where he imagined himself older and having a family with a woman who was most definitely not Katara.

"Yes, but Aang never would have learned firebending, we never would have had that second or third chance, Aang never would have defeated Ozai, and the war would still be going on."

Her smile started small, then it grew until it was more than a real smile. Zuko realized he lost. He wasn't sure how it happened that she turned the whole thing back around on him, but she was going to hold it over her head for at _least_ a month. She wrapped her arms around his neck and played with the ends of his hair.

"Really, Zuko, the way I see it, you should be _thanking_ me. If I hadn't turned you in to Azula—knowingly or not—you wouldn't be where you are today." She raised an eyebrow suggestively. "And that includes _everything_." She pointed to the betrothal necklace he carved for her.

Only then, when she'd defeated him, did she kiss him on the lips, but it was soft and fleeting. Then she sauntered away, back to the palace.

"How did you mess that up _so_ badly that she made you thank her?" Toph asked. She punched him in the back since she couldn't reach his shoulder anymore.

"I haven't thanked her, yet, in case you didn't notice."

"Don't worry. You will." Punch.

"Yeah, well you've hardly grown in five years, runt."

* * *

><p>AN: I think this one might be a little less obscure than mask was. This one came from a comment thread on one of my LJ entries. Because the coup all started with Katara being a tattle. Granted, she had reason to do so-she still saw Zuko as an enemy, and freaked out when she saw him and Iroh in the Jasmine Dragon, probably not even bothering to take in her surroundings, just hightailing it out of there. Anyway, it's Toph's fault. She put him up to it.


	4. Social Network

**It's Been Years Since I Saw You Last  
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Ba Sing Se could, Zuko thought, be quite nice. He leaned back on his arms and enjoyed the sun at one of the public gardens in the middle ring. He and Katara were newly engaged and visiting Iroh and Jun before settling in for detailed wedding negotiations and haggling and harassing the nobility into fiscal responsibility.

Speaking of fiscal responsibility, he should probably search Uncle's room back at the palace and make sure he wasn't hoarding useless junk again. And he'd have to take a look at the books for the Jasmine Dragon before he left. Uncle knew how to brew tea and draw in a steady crowd, but he was almost worse than Sokka with his spending. Zuko sighed. He'd have to get Jun to sneak them out; there's no way Uncle would let him near the office.

"Lee? I mean, I guess I shouldn't call you Lee now, but…spirits, Zuko? Should I say Fire Lord Zuko?"

The moment she started speaking, Zuko shot upright, instinctively ready to bend, knowing it was stupid. If someone was coming to kill him, they wouldn't use his refugee name. But stranger things had happened. He'd let his guard down, and his instincts kicked in, urging him to defense.

"Jin?"

She hadn't changed too much. She was…curvier, but he wasn't supposed to notice that. And she was smiling at him. She hadn't gotten much taller, but her face wasn't as round. She looked more mature, more sure of herself, even though she'd been pretty straightforward when they first met.

"I didn't think you'd remember me." She paused. "My lord." She made an awkward little bow, peeking up at him to see how he was reacting.

"You don't have to bow," Zuko said, standing, dusting off his pants. "And you can just call me Zuko. And of course I remembered you."

He'd hoped he was past that awkward phase. Standing in front of Jin with her eyes roaming over him like that, assessing him and smiling, liking what she saw, he wasn't so sure. He rubbed the back of his neck, as Jin crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side. Which he also wasn't supposed to notice. There were an awful lot of things he wasn't supposed to notice, now. Katara's orders.

"What brings you to Ba Sing Se?"

"Visiting my uncle."

"We should go get tea! It can be a date," Jin said, latching onto his arm and getting very close to him. She laid her head on his shoulder "I still visit it whenever I have the chance."

"Actually, I'm—"

"Lee?"

Zuko turned as quickly as he could with an entire person firmly latched onto his arm.

"Song?" His voice almost came out as a squeak. Dammit, he was the Fire Lord. The Fire Lord does not _squeak_ when confronted by several women from his past while vacationing with his fiancée. Ok, so several might only mean two, but that didn't make it any less awkward, particularly since he didn't know from what shady corner Katara might spring.

Song gasped and covered her mouth, looking apologetic. She bowed quickly. "Lord Zuko."

Now, Song had changed. He swore she was taller, and her eyes brighter. She was wearing a tight fitting dress in light Earth Kingdom greens, and she wore her hair in the style of the Earth Kingdom nobility; she'd probably come from that spa Katara told him about. She looked very fancy, and was smiling sweetly at him in a way that reminded him of the comfort she and her mother offered. And that reminded him of the guilt.

"Please, just Zuko is fine."

Jin was clinging to him even harder, giving Song the stink eye, and Zuko tried to pry her off without seeming like he was trying to get rid of her. Really, he didn't mind spending time with her and becoming friends again. He just didn't like the way this whole encounter was going.

"I really wish I could have gone back to your village to apologize for the ostrich horse in person."

"Oh, but you've made up for it in so many other ways. And all three ostrich horses and the turtleducks are settling in fine. They're so adorable."

"Turtleducks?" Jin asked, waving a hand and sounding unimpressed. "There are turtleducks all over the Earth Kingdom."

"Yes, but mine are _royal_ turtleducks," Song said, putting her hands on her hips. "Sent as an apology gift from the Fire Lord." Here, she gestured to Zuko, as if Jin didn't know who the Fire Lord was.

Zuko was pretty sure this wasn't how his day was supposed to go. Katara had suggested they come to 'Ba Sing Se's hottest social spot,' a popular café that served drinks and snacks with a nearby garden for socializing. It was said that anyone who was anyone frequented that place. He'd only agreed because the alternative was serving tea at the Jasmine Dragon and getting felt up like he was sixteen again, only this time the women would do it with their eyes, which he felt was far more invasive. They'd do it even more now that he was twenty, more muscular, and taller. When those women—especially the older ones—couldn't touch, they thought and talked. And they thought and talked _dirty_ things. Things even _he_ wouldn't do.

And then Katara had gone and disappeared on him, and he was stuck, very awkwardly, between two girls arguing over him.

"I like your hair," Song said, stepping closer and reaching up to touch his hair. Instinctively, he moved. He tended to not like people going for his face.

"See," Jin said, never letting go of his arm, but putting out a hand to urge Song back. "He doesn't like when you do that."

"It's not that I don't—"

"You shouldn't talk for other people," Song said, looking at Jin suspiciously. "It's _rude_."

At some point, Zuko had become invisible, and now people were stopping to look and point, because neither of those women happened to be his fiancée. And then there was a familiar laugh that also didn't belong to his fiancée.

"You always seem to find yourself in some sort of trouble, don't you?" Mai asked, standing at the front of the crowd.

"What have I done that's so bad?" Zuko asked, looking at the sun. "Why do you hate me?"

"Oh, please," Mai said, rolling her eyes. But she was smiling, openly and warmly.

Smiles suited her. She looked good. She'd foregone those stupid little buns and just wore her hair down, and she wasn't wearing all that dark makeup anymore. She looked so much lighter; light like he hadn't seen her since they were children. It was a good look for her. Not that he was supposed to notice.

"You look good," Zuko said, unable to resist a smile.

"Thanks. You don't look half bad yourself."

Jin let go of Zuko's arm to put her hands on her hips, turning to stare Mai down.

"And who are you? Zuko and I were about to go on a date—"

Mai must have been feeling good because she started laughing. "Relax, I'm not here to steal him away." She waved away the notion. "Been there, done that."

Zuko tried not to smile, because this whole thing was inappropriate, and it was about to get worse because there was Katara, stalking over to him.

"I leave you alone for five minutes," she said, pushing her way through the small, amused crowd. She stopped when she saw the three women surrounding him. "What's going on here?"

Mai laughed again. "What's going on here, Zuko?"

Zuko sighed. "This is Jin. She and I went on a date when Uncle and I were refugees. This is Song. I stole an ostrich horse from her—"

"Zuko!" Katara's fists flew to hips, and she was getting shrill.

"It's a long story, and I've paid her back."

"With three ostrich horses and two turtleducks," Song pointed out defensively. She looked a little out of her depth with three other girls and a small crowd of people watching. Zuko wanted to give her a hug, but that might be too much.

Jin took his hand. "We were just going to go on a date to the Jasmine Dragon," she declared, starting to pull.

"No, you weren't," Katara said gently, stepping close to Zuko and putting a hand on Jin's shoulder. "You must not have heard about his recent change in relationship status. He's no longer single."

Jin looked shocked, her eyebrows rising and her mouth forming a little "o". She looked back and forth between Zuko and Katara. Then she looked at Song and Mai, like she wasn't sure which one of them could be his girlfriend.

"Yeah, at some point people stopped listening to me," Zuko said, rubbing the back of his neck. It would be just his luck to get surrounded by four beautiful women and then get all four of them all riled up in one way or the other.

"I'm his fiancée," Katara explained, touching him unnecessarily. She slipped her arm around his waist, rubbing his back, and smiled up at him. She was doing that on purpose, making him feel all dopey so he'd start smiling like an idiot again. And it was working.

Jin looked massively disappointed, and Song only looked embarrassed. Mai just smiled. She looked happy for him. Katara took his hand and began leading him off with a bit more sashay than was called for. Zuko resisted rolling his eyes. Talk about dominant female.

"You're like a magnet for your ex girlfriends, aren't you?" she asked when they were back at the café. She pulled Zuko into the seat, then sat on his lap, casting a glance over her shoulder to make sure the other girls were watching. She ran her hands through his hair.

"I wasn't trying to date them," he said. "Things just got out of control. You think about that next time you want to visit some social hot spot. I'm very hard to resist."

"Oh, whatever," she said, giving him a playful slap.

* * *

><p>AN: It was a lot funnier in my head. I didn't want to do an AU for social network, and the deviant art Zutara week page mentioned things like myspace and facebook, and that other thing. Then I thought I'd do something obscure like I did for mask. Then I had this idea. I hope you guys caught the references to things like status updates and relationship status. I also incorporated the idea that you get on facebook and all your ex's find you, and your current doesn't like you friending them. Some of them have the intention of getting back with you, some really do just want to be friends, and some just get embarrassed. So yeah. That's where my mind was. This is the only thing that's *slightly* out of my continuity.

Oh! And turtleducks are totally an international symbol of peace now. Plus I imagine the ponds at the palace might be getting kind of full, and giving some away is a great way to keep them from having territorial squabbles. And the Avatar Wiki tells me they are Fire Nation animals. For this, we'll pretend they're Earth Kingdom. Pretend, dammit!


	5. Secret

**To Ensure the Future  
><strong>

Kanna sat across the table from the new Fire Lord. He'd changed, like he said. For one, he had hair. He looked better with hair. But there was also something intangible that changed. It certainly wasn't a loss of innocence as she'd seen with the young Avatar. Her staring was making him uncomfortable and he fidgeted mildly in his seat, but she kept staring, hoping to suss out what had changed in him.

"How do we know you won't start it up again?" she asked, crossing her arms and leaning back.

He looked at her as if she'd suddenly grown three heads. "Why the hell would I do that?" He winced, realizing his language was probably not appropriate.

Kanna smiled approvingly. "Indeed. Why."

He looked older, yes, but they'd all returned older. His thick red and gold coat hung over the back of his chair. Without his armor, he was much smaller, much less imposing. Hakoda said he'd had extensive injuries after the battle, and Kanna wondered just what those were. She watched as he rubbed a spot on his chest while he thought.

"I think… I think a lot of people in the Fire Nation are ready for an end to the war, too. I wouldn't restart something I gave my life to end."

Kanna blinked. "So what they say is true?"

"Depends on who's saying what," he said without missing a beat.

Kanna laughed, a deep, good natured laugh that made her hold the edge of the table, and the boy across from her smiled, and she realized that yes, he was a boy. Seventeen and Fire Lord, in charge of a country and charged with redeeming a century's worth of wrongs. It would be a long, lonely road for him.

"Katara never said you had a sense of humor," Kanna said, calming down.

He shrugged. "She doesn't think I have one."

"The two of you are very close."

He blushed, fidgeted, refused to meet her eyes. "I…literally, I owe her my life. I…" He swallowed. "I didn't plan on surviving that battle."

Kanna leaned forward on the table. "Who would have been Fire Lord if not you?"

"My Uncle. He would have had to name a successor if no other child was conceived during his reign, but none of that would have even mattered if…" He looked at her then, and he looked very sad. "I wanted her to live. No matter what, she had to live. And Aang."

But Kanna had already noted that Aang was merely an afterthought, and she thought that maybe she did see what had changed in him. It was a loss of innocence. The world would never again be simple black and white for him. It couldn't be good guys and bad guys, and he understood this. He understood sacrifice, and kindness. It was in his eyes, and the way they flicked to the window where Katara was outside.

"She's a special girl, isn't she?"

Perhaps he learned a little more, too.

He nodded. "I swear she's a firebender sometimes. One minute, she's nice and sweet, and the next she's fighting like a wild pygmy puma caught in a cage."

He smirked at this, and Kanna smiled outright. She wondered if he even realized it.

"I'm not sure how she does it sometimes. There have been days this past year when I wished she would have left me for dead, or that her bending didn't work, but she gets up every morning, no matter how bad things get…"

He was looking at the table, tracing the edge with his finger, and his brows were furrowed, like he was puzzling something out. At this point, Kanna realized, he didn't need any more prompting. All she had to do was mention Katara's name, and here he was, going off on a tangent about her.

"Yeah, we tease her for all her talk about hope. It's always hope this, and hope that, but she…she gives… She gives me hope that maybe someday things won't be as bleak as they are now. We sit and talk for hours sometimes. It's like she knows when I'm having a bad day before I even realize it, and she'll sit with me, or we'd have lunch in the gardens, and just…_not_ talk."

He looked up and Kanna nodded. Noncommittal. See how long he'd keep going on about Katara. She bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from smiling.

"Of course, people are always making jokes about us and things got really nasty when the council thought we were dating." He waved these things away as if they were a bad smell. "But what I like the best about her is that she doesn't…demand things of me. All the time, one person or another wants me to do something, but she just… She doesn't. She's fine just sitting. And if I want to do something, that's fine. But it's ok if I don't want to do anything, either."

Kanna nodded again. "She's attuned to the needs of others." Toss him a little something. See what he does with it.

"I've never had that before, not like this. And it makes me want to do nice things for her, too. She's practical, and I know she likes nice things every now and then, but she feels guilty about taking things like dresses and fancy hair combs. I want her to know it's ok to pamper herself. I sent her to the palace spa before we left. She really liked that."

Kanna looked at the sun outside. Maybe she should stop him. From that silly look on his face, he could probably go on about Katara well into the night. She couldn't help the snort that escaped, drawing his attention to her and away from his Katara-laden thoughts. She bet he did want to do nice things for her.

"A bending battle doesn't count as doing something nice for her," he said to himself, running his hands through his hair. "She doesn't exactly need new water skins. Maybe a new coat? It's practical, but also something—"

Kanna cleared her throat. That was enough of that. As much as she loved her granddaughter, she wasn't interested in hearing all the ways Zuko thought she was lovely. Maybe later, but not right now. She pushed herself up from the table and walked into the living room, digging through a cabinet until she found the wooden box. She came back to the table and pushed it toward Zuko.

"Miss—"

"You," she said, pointing a finger at him, "will call me Gran Gran. Or just Gran. Like Sokka and Katara." He was starting to look a little panicked. It was cute. "Hakoda seems to have taken a liking to you, anyway. Busting someone out of prison will do that."

"I can't accept this…"

"You don't even know what it is. And you touched it. Now you have to keep it until you find someone to pass it on to."

He nodded, opened the box. His eyes grew big the moment he saw what it was, and several milliseconds of indecision passed before he decided on a course of action.

"Whoa, whoa, no…No… I…we, no, it's not like that between us."

Kanna cackled. She hadn't had cause to cackle in _ages_, but she did so then. There were so many different ways he could have played off knowing that the traditional Water Tribe combs she'd just gifted him were given from husband to wife on the wedding night. There were so many ways he could have feigned ignorance, but he didn't. He knew _exactly_ what those meant.

"Katara and I…she wouldn't. We can't. The co— I mean. Dammit dammit dammit." He took a deep breath and was preparing a (hopefully) more coherent denial, but Kanna just put her hand on his shoulder.

"When you're ready, you'll do it. Just don't take too long."

"How do you even know—"

"Because she didn't let you stay dead."

He smiled appreciatively, and gently closed the box. Kanna thought her granddaughter could do _much_ worse.

"I'll keep my mouth closed, and you two come give me a visit—"

"It won't work. The Fire Nation won't accept her as their ruler."

Kanna sighed and sat down, placing her hand on top of his, on top of the box. Now that they were done with beating around the wolf den, he was letting his guard drop, and there was such pain and sadness on his face. He rubbed that spot on his chest again.

"Is that where you took lightning for her?" she asked, nodding to the offending spot.

"Yeah."

She patted his hand. "Then you'll find a way. Maybe not tomorrow, but you'll find a way. And like I said, I'll keep quiet. Whenever you talk to Hakoda and he mentions Katara, you'll want to make sure you don' talk about her for an hour straight."

He turned almost as red as his jacket, mumbling apologies, and Kanna cackled again, slapping him on his back. Poor boy. He was hopeless.

* * *

><p>AN: The beginning of Kanna shipping Zutara. Poor Zuko. He didn't mean to talk about her for so long :( How does this relate to secret? On several levels, I think. Zuko is accidentally letting slip the secret that he's in love with Katara, and he and Katara are still keeping secret, and now Zuko and Kanna have their own secret. Plus, I just wanted to write more Zuko/Kanna, because I think she'd totally mother him and he wouldn't be able to do anything other than sit there and take it.


	6. Awkward

**I Love Her Like No Other  
><strong>

As far as Zuko was concerned, there was nothing wrong with a little early evening romp.

He ran his lips along Katara's neck, stopping to suck on her chocolate covered skin. She struggled against the ropes that bound her hands behind her back, trapping her to the bedpost.

"You're such a tease," she whispered, offering more of her neck to him.

He ran his hands from her ankles up to her hips, and she squirmed, moving downward so that he'd be right where she wanted him.

"In case you didn't notice, _you_ are tied up. That means I'm supposed to control things here."

Just to show her who's boss, he trailed kisses from her collarbone, between her breasts, and down to her navel, then collected the chocolate on the way up. She threw her head back and moaned, tossing her legs over his shoulders and holding him down when he returned to lick chocolate from her hip. She was surprisingly strong, and for a moment, Zuko actually did sink lower.

He nipped the inside of her thigh and she bit her lip in anticipation. The look in her eyes was pure want, and it pushed Zuko, made him want to do dirty things to her.

"You want this," he said, her skin still in his teeth.

"So badly."

Then she wouldn't have it, just yet. She gave a low growl of protest when he moved, but that growl dissolved into a purr when his tongue darted out to lick her nipple.

"You like this."

"Yes!"

"Oh good, Katara you're…here…"

This was _not_ how Zuko wanted to show Hakoda that he loved his daughter. Not with him between her legs with her chocolate covered nipple in his mouth, and his face and chest smeared with chocolate, and her tied to the bedpost.

Honestly, Zuko wasn't quite sure where Hakoda even came from. They hadn't heard him knock, but he must have mistaken Katara's overly eager 'yes' as an answer to him asking if he could come in. In any event, he was in, and his eyes were moving between Zuko and Katara, noting their positions, Zuko's hand holding her leg a little off the bed so she'd be in the perfect position for him, with Katara's back arched, making it easier for him to access all her favorite places.

Zuko glanced at Katara, and her eyes were wide, and she was trying to look everywhere except at her father, who was now looking at the ropes around her wrists, and probably noting that her skin was a little red because she kept struggling against the bonds _she_ had suggested.

Zuko didn't think saying that this was her idea was going to make anything better.

No one was moving. Just looking around, not sure if they should make eye contact. Were they supposed to just walk away and pretend none of it happened? Was he supposed to explain that he wasn't actually hurting Katara, that she liked it this way? Would that be inappropriate? Really, the whole thing was inappropriate, and Zuko wished Hakoda would just walk out and close the door, and they could put this little matter behind them. And never speak of it. Again. Ever.

"Um…"

His brave chocolate covered Katara. Because he sure wasn't about to say anything. And poor Hakoda. He could never again go back to pretending his daughter was a chaste, innocent little girl. He'd have to come to grips with the fact that his daughter was a kinky, dirt little saucy minx who enjoyed being slathered and chocolate and tied to the bed, who liked being dominated and dominating and did this thing with her tongue…

Zuko took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, but that proved to be the wrong thing to do, because he was still so close to Katara, and she tried to bite back the gasp as his breath tickled her skin, and she rolled her hips into him, and he shuddered, gripping her thigh tighter, because his tip was poised just at her opening, and she'd brushed against him.

Hakoda's look of surprise and confusion turned to a deep scowl, and Zuko just wanted to cry. He lowered his head to the mattress, draping himself across Katara's leg.

"Fuck…" He swallowed hard, and looked up at Hakoda. "Hi?"

Hakoda crossed his arms. "Well, then."

There were more seconds of staring, then some seconds of careful avoidance of eye contact. Then, the spell finally broken, Hakoda turned on his heel and closed the door quietly behind him. Zuko undid the rope around Katara's wrists, and she buried her face in her hands.

"That is every child's _worst_ nightmare," she groaned, sounding near tears. "Then you had to go and breathe on me!"

Then she brought her hand down hard on his ass cheek.

"Hey!" He rubbed the sore spot. "Don't get mad at me because you wanted to be tied up and covered in chocolate."

"Don't you put this on me!" She crossed her arms and looked down at him. "I'm not going down to dinner."

"Good because I'm not, either."

There was _no way_ he'd face their family dinner after this.

* * *

><p>AN: One of these days, I'll stop writing dirty things. I swear. Anyway, this is probably my most literal one, and the one that I came up with first. Ever had one of those awkward moment where everyone knows they should just walk away and never comment on it again, but it's like you're stuck and can't move? Ever notice how that never happens when someone farts in public, but it's always the _most_ horrendously embarrassing moment when that awkward freeze happens? This takes place shortly after Zuko and Katara announce their engagement.


	7. Legendary

**Never the Same  
><strong>

Katara giggled as she skidded around the corner, Zuko's crown firmly in hand. She had a good ten second lead on him, but she wouldn't be able to hold onto that for long. She could already hear him screaming for her to give it back from his office, and she was nearly to the stairs that would take her down a floor.

"'Scuse me! Coming through!" she yelled as she blew past a crowd of council members. Some screeched their indignation and commented that this was _most_ inappropriate behavior, and if Katara could have spared the time, she would have given them a piece of her mind, but Zuko was catching up as it was.

The stairs were in sight, and she gripped the crown tighter in her hand as she jumped on the banister and slid down. Ty Lee was right—sliding down the banister was fun. She launched herself into a roll that allowed her to keep going at nearly full speed. Thank you Zuko and your ninja spy training. She cackled. Bet he never thought it would be used against _him_.

"Gotcha!"

Zuko sprung out of an alcove and grabbed her, and she screamed loud enough to draw everyone's attention in the hallway. He was trying to wrap his arms around her to keep her from slipping away, with that smug grin on his face, but she kept twisting and turning, and finally she resorted to her secret weapon. Zuko didn't like to advertise it, but he was ticklish, and she tickled his side, and he let out the single most adorable set of four giggles as he squirmed out of her touch, and she bolted, shoving his crown down the front of her shirt as she went, the better to grip the columns on tight turns and push herself off the wall.

Now her lead wasn't as large as it had been before, and she would have to be careful because Zuko was cheating by using the palace's secret passages. He knew them better than she did, and she wasn't willing to take the chase into those passages. Just her luck, she'd end up lost between the walls and no one would find her.

Katara glanced over her shoulder, smiling wide, and saw that Zuko was quickly closing in on her. They were coming up on a group of servants, terrified into immobility like a herd of koalasheep, and Katara veered left, steering well clear of them. Zuko, the flashy little bastard, ran up the wall, then pushed off, sending two fiery kicks in her direction.

"No bending!" she yelled at him as she snatched water from a nearby plant to block the first blow, then using the steam to block the second. Fine. If that's the way Zuko wanted to play the game, then that's how they'd play it. She laid the ice down in front of her and used it to surf down the palace hallways to the mortification of everyone present.

"Dammit, Katara! It's mine!"

But Zuko was laughing, too, and when she turned her back, he made a sharp left and disappeared into another passage. That was fine, because Katara had almost reached her goal. Her chest was heaving and her lungs burned, but this was the most fun she'd had in _weeks_. Since their engagement, it had been all meetings and stuffy parties and agreements and haggling and listening to their family tease them and scold them for keeping secrets, and her dad and Iroh teaming up to harass them or purposefully intrude on every private moment they had.

Katara bent an ice bridge that sent her flying over Sokka, Suki and Ty Lee, and there was the balcony on just the other side of them that would take her to the royal gardens. The only problem was that she didn't see Zuko at all. As the walls flew past her, a bright burst of flame exploded from behind one of the statues, and she had to form a hasty ball of ice around her to protect her, and the ice cracked a little, and she gathered the steam to repair it, staying in her icy ball as she rolled out the palace and onto the balcony. With a stomp, she launched herself over the railing, but Zuko was launching himself over the railing, too, and this time when his fire connected with her ice ball, it exploded, but not before she'd reached the ground.

Just as she was getting up and preparing to run again, Zuko grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides and not letting her go.

"You are one sneaky little waterbender, you know that?"

They laughed as they struggled, their chests heaving with lack of air, and he spun her around.

"Ok," he said with his lopsided grin, "where is it?"

Katara threw her arms around his neck and kissed him because kissing him could usually make him forget what he was doing. He responded with enthusiasm, but his hands were still rubbing her down—not sensual at all, but looking for that damn crown. He pulled away, but every time he tried to talk, Katara gave him little pecks on the lips, and then she suspected he was talking just to make her kiss him. Not that she minded.

He held her away from him, lacing his fingers with hers, and he must have seen the gold of the crown glinting in the sun because he got this devilish look, and next thing Katara knew, he was throwing her over his shoulder, and she screamed and clutched the back of his shirt.

"Don't drop me!"

"Relax, I wouldn't drop you."

At which point, he preceded to pretend like he was going to drop her. Katara screamed again and clutched at his shirt.

"I'm serious, Zuko! Don't play like that!"

"What the _hell_ is going on?"

Slowly, Zuko's laughter died off, and Katara tried to push herself up so she could see, but with the way Zuko was holding her, that wasn't going to happen.

"Dad?" That didn't mean she wasn't going to try.

"You scared nearly half the palace with your screaming," Hakoda scolded them. "What are you doing?"

"She took my crown," Zuko said, still chuckling. "I was getting it back."

She couldn't see her dad, but she bet he was looking very lost. Lost like sometimes he didn't understand his children. He was probably shaking his head, looking to the sky, and asking the ancestors to help him maintain his sanity just a little longer.

"Just…Just cut down on the screaming, ok? You had the palace guards thinking you were being attacked."

"Ok. Sorry," Zuko said. "We promise to behave."

He didn't sound terribly sorry. Hakoda sighed and she could hear the grass swish as he started to walk away, but then he was coming back.

"And aren't you the Fire Lord? Shouldn't you be doing some work right now?"

Hakoda was probably giving Zuko his 'stern father' look. He pinched her waist.

"I will. As soon as I get my crown back."

"Ugh, I don't want to know." Hakoda was retreating quickly. "I'm not listening to this!"

Katara laughed and slapped Zuko's butt hard. "Giddyup! You've got work to do, Fire Lord, and this crown is poking me."

* * *

><p>AN: The last two days are pure fluff. What's legendary about this? Their antics. This is a huge change from the past few generations of Fire Lords, and I imagine the staff isn't quite sure what they should do, yet. And this story needed a little Hakoda action. After that incident where he walked in on them, I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to know _anything_ about how they solve their 'differences.' And Zuko very much had to resist saying 'she started it.'


	8. Caught

**Like Stars in the Night Sky  
><strong>

_FIRE LORD MAKES FIRST TRIP TO EMBER ISLAND AS NEWLYWED_

Katara could have beaten Zuko with a large stick for lifting the ban on newspapers in the Fire Nation. There were reporters hiding in the bushes of the restored beach home. Artists were furiously scribbling on wads of paper, trying to capture every detail of the house. She peered at the eager journalists with pens and books of paper in their hands, waiting for the royal couple to come out.

"Clearly you haven't read the Ba Sing Se society papers," Katara said as Zuko kissed her neck.

"Nope. We didn't get them in the lower ring, and we weren't at the Jasmine Dragon long enough."

She let the curtain drop, and turned to face her husband. Husband. Zuko. Her husband. She smiled, and he pulled her into a hug. She never thought she'd be saying that.

_FIRE LORD AND LADY ARRIVE WITHOUT SERVANTS. PALACE STAFF DESCRIBE HONEYMOON AS INTIMATE AND PRIVATE_

"You know they'll try to keep you out of the kitchens," Zuko said as Katara laid their meal out. "They'd say it's beneath you, and that it's not proper."

Katara snuggled up close to Zuko and started feeding him sesame komodo chicken.

"They'll let me in for special occasions. Like your birthday or our anniversary. They won't have a choice."

Zuko laughed. "You'll be a terror."

He kissed her temple. Without anyone else there, the house seemed large and imposing. There were so many rooms that Zuko and Katara could sleep in a different one every night for their two week stay and never have to be in the same room twice. He promised her that once they started having kids, she'd be glad for the extra space.

"When I was younger, I could go off in one wing of the house and never have to see Azula. Lu Ten and I used to head off into the woods, and he would teach me to hunt."

"Really? He was so much older than you. I would have thought he wouldn't want to be bothered with a little kid."

Katara pushed a lock of hair out of Zuko's eyes. She really _liked_ him with long hair, and had finally convinced him that just because he looked like his father, it didn't mean he was going to _be_ his father. She ran her hand absently through his hair.

"Uncle says Lu Ten adored my mom. No one was as happy as he was when she announced she was pregnant. He'd waned a little brother for so long, and then there I was." He smiled fondly. "I should teach you how to hunt."

"Please!" Katara said laughing. "I'll leave the hunting to you and Sokka. He wouldn't want me intruding on your bonding time."

_FIRE LADY KATARA SETS NEW SUMMER CLOTHING TREND_

Every morning, Zuko picked a single moon peach blossom for her.

"You are gorgeous," Zuko said, holding her hands before they went out for the evening.

As a wedding gift, Ursa got Katara a new dress. It was a lightweight deep red silk that was cut close to her body and reached the floor. The cut from the front was modest, going straight across her collarbone, so she turned around so Zuko could see the deep v in the back, its point stopping just below her lower back. He whistled and tried to slip his hands inside, but Katara just laughed and slapped his arm.

"We've got reservations, remember, loverboy?"

"I'm the Fire Lord. They'll hold them."

With a little coaxing and some promises, Katara got Zuko to agree to leave the house. The reporters followed them all the way to the theater, asking them questions and being thoroughly ignored, where they sat in a private booth and watched a play about meddling spirits and love potions and mistaken crushes. During the play, the lead actor improvised her name in one of his lines. Rather than saying there was no one in the Spirit World or on Earth as beautiful as the Sun Goddess, Lady Visa, he said there was no one as beautiful as the Fire Lady, Lady Katara. Zuko chuckled and Katara was beyond herself with delight as the actor gestured to her in their private booth, the spotlight swung to her, and the crowd cheered and clapped.

This was reported in the paper the next day, complete with statements from other theatergoers about how flattered she looked, and how true it was.

_ZHI'S BECOMES EMBER ISLAND'S MOST EXCLUSIVE RESTAURANT AFTER VISIT FROM ROYAL COUPLE_

After the play, she and Zuko went to a restaurant owned by the former head chef of the palace. They enjoyed a mostly private dinner and laughed about the play. Zhi did a good job of keeping the reporters out of the way; Katara and Zuko agreed to let Zhi tell the reporters what they ordered, and that satisfied them for the moment.

_RUN IN WITH FIRE LORD ENDS BADLY FOR TWO LOCAL YOUTHS WHO MADE LEWD REMARKS TOWARD FIRE LADY_

Katara preferred to pretend that Chan and Ruon-Jian didn't exist.

_SON OF ADMIRAL CHAN DECLARES WAR ON FIRE LORD_

_WAR QUICKLY OVER, CALLED EMBARASSEMENT_

Katara made Zuko stay at the beach house until that whole incident blew over. They spent a lot of time down on the beach at their old spot, hidden between a rock and a small grove of trees.

"Remember that time when we were down here, and then Sokka and Suki cam and started making out?" Katara asked, leaning against the rock as she'd done so many times before.

"Yeah, thanks for bringing back that mental image when I finally got it out of my head."

"Well, I'm pretty sure they think it's disgusting when they catch us making out," Katara said in between little kisses.

Zuko pushed her further back against the rock, trailing kisses down her neck and across her shoulder. He ran his thumbs over her stomach.

"Once I finish teaching Sokka that a closed door means you have to knock and wait for an answer, he won't have that problem."

Katar bit her lip as Zuko lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply, savoring the softness of his lips, and the sweet taste of moon peaches that just lingered on his tongue.

Somewhere, there was an artist watching them.

_TRUE LOVE RETURNS TO FIRE NATION_

The picture of them kissing was on the front page.

* * *

><p>AN: And so, as Zutara week comes to a close, I offer you this last bit of fluff. I hope it's clear that the all caps and italics are newspaper headlines. I wasn't sure how to do the spacing for this, so I hope that's not too bad, either. For some reason, I immediately thought paparazzi for this, and that led to the whole celebrity culture thing. I imagine Zuko and Katara would be the ultimate celebrity couple, hence being followed everywhere on their high profile honeymoon on Ember Island. This one is my favorite.

P.S. Sorry for the cavities I just caused.


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